Apparatus for spreading and leveling road materials



Dec. 17, 1929. A. E. SCHUTTE 1,739,304

APPARATUS FOR SPREADING AND LEVELING ROAD MATERIALS Filed Jan. 1929 Ill QM I IE1. -1QJ ATTURNIZKT Patented Dec. 17, 1929 newowes, L

nnensrj E. scnnrrre, or'noarrnaono, ivrAssncrrnsnr'rs AIPARATUS FOB SPREADI NG AND LEVELING ROAD MAIERIALS Application fiia zrmiuai jz, 1929. Serial so. 329,808.

In laying roadways, especially of the bi-.

tuminous kind, it is customary to bring-the material, either the binder or the surface mixture, to the street, dump-the load, shovel the material into place, giving the layer moreor less uniformity, and raking and combing such layer until uniform in thickness and then compressing with a roller. This methodhas been used for half acentury and has not been improved upon upto the present day.

Some attempts have been made to spread dry stone by confining the stone in a hopper and dragging the hopper along the road, allowinga certain amount to escape through a lower orifice. Such a machine is cumbersome and necessarily, is confined to a very small area and requires a great deal of power on account of the fact that the whole load is carried in the hopper.v :Attempts have been made to utilize a similar hopper for hot bituminous materials Without results; A further defect of the old method is segregation,

for as the hopper'of the'nature above de scribed, is dragged along the road and if it contains fine materials, thisfine materiah'on account of the arring and jolting, is sifted" to the bottom and is laid first,-leaving the. material Which remains in the hopper devoid of any fine, and the resulting layer will be de- 3o prived of such material.

Among the objects of-the present invention.

is to spread and level the material after it has been depositedupon the base'or roadway by so operating that the material lying above a determinate level will be moved laterally and fall over other'portions of the deposited material witha cascading eifect,thereby as-2' surmg uniformity in the resultmg layer; to"

provide means whereby the deposited mate- 40 rialmay be spread and'leveled through force applied by the truck or wagon depositingthe. material on the ground or roadwayytooproa vide an apparatus relativelylight and portable toprovide mean's'whereby the apparatus during the operation of spreading'and leveling will be held down in position to properly function by the weight of the-ma terial acted upon after it has been deposited; to provide means whereby the apparatus will 30 at all times beheld leveledwith relation to the mean level of the base-or roadway upon which it is operating; and to provide an apparatus that will leave no streaks in the surface ofthe material after it has .been spreadand leveled. r

The invention can best be seen and understood in the light of the drawings, in which- Figure 1 is aplan of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a view partly in section-and partly in side elevation of a portion of theapparatus taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1.. 3

Fig. 3 is a plan in enlarged-detail of a.portion of the apparatus. i p: 1 f I".- Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line i of Fig.3,and i 5' Fig. 5 is a cross section of a detail of con struction. i w -Referring to the drawings i r 1 is an upright: rigid member or drag made of heavy sheet metal'preferjably cycloidal in form with integral curved parts 2 and 3, respectively. Thefdrag' presentsalong its sides front cutting-edges l and 5, respectively, and at its centre afront cuttingedge 6; These front cutting edges facilitate the drawing of the drag through; the material topbe spread and leveled which is deposited upon the base or roadway in front of the'drag. .'The;drag may have any desired dimensions. l'n prac tice adrag is employed'so'me 8 to 12 feet in width measured on a line-between its side: edges 4 and 5, while in heijght the'drag is some 18 inches measured on a line'between its top and bottomedges. 7 and'S', respectively.

The drag is preferably freinfor oe'd' at its back on the outside byi-a brace 9 the opposite ends of which are weldedeto thefdrag body I between its respective curved parts 2 and 3.

, Fi-Xed to .thefparts2 and 3:0f the drag on the inside are brace forming members 10, 10 which assist in strengthening and reinforc ingthe drag and at'the same'time perform other useful functions as will later be "ex t plained. The members 10, 10 are flat bars; of relatively heavy metal and preferably of considerable Width. Each of the member'sis provided with an upturned end 10. The

' members 10, 10 are also bars of, some COIlSlCljroadway on which the drag is operating, resting thereon. The members are angularly arranged with relation to one another, the forward free ends of the bars being brought together and securely fastened at a point well forward of, and in line with the centre of the drag. From the point of their fastening the memberslO, -diverge toward the opposite sides of the drag and the upturned ends 10 of the members are securely fastened tovthe parts 2 and 3 of the drag as will later be explained.

The meeting ends of the members 10 may be fastened together in any. suitable manner Q but preferably by brazing. For a purpose later to be referred to, the members 10, 10 are preferably outwardly-inclined, each member inclining upward from the outer side edge thereof; Thus inclined, the meeting ends of the members may be brought togetherandv brazed along a meeting line or joint 12. Just back of this joint, within the apex formedby the meeting end portions of'the members, is placed a triangular insert 13 of relatively heavy; metal and this insert is brazed to the respective members. On the under side beneath the joint 12 and insert 13 the meeting ends of the members are provided with a heavy piece of metal 14 forming a shoe on which the connected forward ends of the members'may-rest upon the ground or roadway and draw over it as the drag is moved; The shoe 14 is provided with an upturned forward end or point 15 in order that it may freely slide overthe base or roadway.

Apartfrom strengthening and reinforcing the drag the members 10, 10 form partof the;

connection bywhichthe-drag is drawn along the base or road-wayon which it is operating,

for fastened to the metal insert 13 between the meeting ends-of the members by a bolt and nut connection 16iis a tongue or-draw member 17.' This tongue extends forward from thepoint ofits fastening with upward inclination so that the free end of the tongue may be-secured to a truck or agentfor-moving the drag.

down the forward ends of-.theniembers f10,

1Q with attachedshoe 14' onto the base or roadway so that the shoe 14 will slide thereon.

The drag is so supportedtthat its bottom.

edge 8 will' lie adeterminate distance above the base on which the. dragis operating-and overwhich the material is to be spread and tend belowthe bottom ,edge of thedrag and will =rest;upon the base withxthe. members 10, 10 from which the upturned ends 10, 10 ex- The inclination or: curvature of the tongue is such that as draft: is exerted-- uponthe tongue the tendencywill :be toholdthe drag Which permit of a. vertical adjustment of the bolt and nut fastenings. In connection with the fastening of the upturned ends 10, 10 to the drag it will also be noted that. theseendsextendupward on the interior side of the drag and are spaced from it by means of: collars 20 arranged upon the bolts. This spacing brings the legs formed by the upturned ends 10, 10 and inner end portions of the members 10, 10 to lie forward of the bottom edge of the drag; this essentially for a purpose later to be explained. a

With the drag thus supported in an elevated position on adjustable legs and these legs in turn secured to or borne by angularlyarranged fiat members 10,10, which bear upon the ground: or roadway and are shod upon their forward meeting ends by the shoe 14, the drag will accordingly be adjustably mounted: as it were upon a shallow sled or plow generally triangular in form and of considerable length and range of bearing, andv which sled, holding. contact with the ground or roadway, is adapted to. plow through and beneath the deposited material.

Preliminary to the operationof the apparatus the materialeto be spread and leveled is first deposited upon the base orroadway Within the area embraced or encircled by the drag. Accordingly the material thus deposited'willrcover the sled-forming members 10, 10 .which onaccount of theweight'of the material upon, them will operate through their upturned leg-forming extensions 10'; 10' connectedtothe drag, toihold' down the drag and prevent its liftingas the drag is,

moved through the, deposited material; On this account the-members 1'0, 10 are made relatively wide aspreviouslynoted and are alsopreferably,sofinclinedasto offer re-' sistanceto-their; being drawn through the deposited material resting upon them, so increasing.- their holding-down effect exertedupon the .drag.

Inasmuch as-the members 10, 10' or sled formed by them have considerable relative extension over the surface of the ground'or roadway, they will accordingly maintain by their bearing a position corresponding with the mean level'of'said roadway especially when its surfaceis anuneven surface, and thereforethe bottom edge 8 ofthe drag'will be maintained to lie at a determinate distance above said mean level'ofi-the base or road way. 7 7

As previously explained, the leg supports for the drag provided by the upturned ends 10, 10 of themembers 10, were arranged forward of the bottom edge 8 ofthe drag leaving a considerable space back of these legs and between them and the bottom edge.

of the drag. This enables the deposited ma-' terial tofill in back of the legs as the drag is 1 in order that the leg supports provided the upturned ends 10, 10' of the nemberslO, 10 may cut throughthe depositedmaterial with as little resistance as possible, the leg supports are preferably inclined in the direction of the path described by the drag as: it is moved. I

The-operation of usiiigrthe apparatus is as follows i i i v Assuming the apparatus in place upon-the. foundation or base fupon which the material is to be spread and leveled and assumingalso that the drag has been so adjusted by adjustment of its'legs that the'bottom drawing edge thereof will lie above the base or foundation a distance corresponding withthe thickness of the layer desired: The material to be spread, brought preferably. by truck, -lS

dumped directly'in front of the drag in the area embraced. by it and upon the members 10,10 ,of the apparatus or sled. The ma terial' having thus been deposited, the tongue or draw bar ofthe apparatus is attached to the truck and the drag then moved. through the deposited material. As the apparatus is moved the forward ends of the members 10, 10 or sledwill be held down onto'the ground or roadway by thetongue or draw member of the apparatus. At the same time-said members or'sled'will draw through theldeposited material beneath it and the material by its weight will operate to hold down-the. drag which is drawn through themater al, spreading and leveling it, the bottom leveling edge of the drag then maintaininga determinate position abovethe mean level of the ground or roadway as previously explainedf If the thickness of the layer to bespread is great the whole of the contents of thetruek' can be dumped at once. If, however, a thin layer is desired,it is preferable to. dump part of the load in front of the drag, then attach it to the truck and move the drag through the deposited material until it is spread and leveled; then the rest of the material can be dumped, either in whole or' in part, and processed as before.

"Ordinarily a series of drags are used on a job, especially if; the roadway or founda tion to be covered is quite wide, the drags being so'arranged as'to lap' by one another and ,I claim. and desire to secure so embrace"the" entire surface to be "covered.

The action of the dragis simply 'a'scrap ing action which takes ofi'thetop'ofthematerial dumpedin front 'Of'it'fiqlld, on account of its curved or cycloi'da'l formation, it causes the material in'excess of the layer to fall over itself witha: more or less cascading effect inwardly into the path of the'drag,'t hus retaining homogeneity throughout the whole layer and preventing separation'and s'egregation of any of the material. This effect is not only desirable but of paramount impor tance for uniformity of result and 'workmanship';

The apparatus can be made'comparatively light inasmuch as it does not carry the depos-; ited material and need-have only-jsuflicient strength to' withstand the stress pf spreading and leveling the deposited material. g v

In connection with the holding downof the drag'to' a determinate level by the'fweight or action of the deposited material "upon' the 1 members 10, 10 of the apparatus or sled, the force or effect thusexerted will remain a sub-' stanti-ally constant force 1 as long as there is any material to be spread and leveled in front ofthedragw erably cycloidal in form," it," may: take the form of a simple curve or be otherwise formed While the drag has been described as prefv as desired. Numerous other 'changes,.also,"-

in the details of construction ofthe various. parts may be made without departingfrom the spirit of the-invention. j

Having thus fully described m'yinvention, I i by Letters Pat ent of the United Statesrl 1. combination spreadenand'leveler for" roadways comprising a dragpre'sentinga 'bottom levelingedge, means for supporting the d rag whereby the bottom leveling edge there of will lie a determinate spaced .distance above the; roadway as the'drag is moved along the roadway through the material '.cleposited thereon to be spread and leveled, andmeans.

whereby force may be exerted for drawing the drag along the, roadway through said ma; a

terial .and permitting of said. determinate,

positioning of the bottom leveling edge of the drag being maintained.

2. A combination spreader andgleveler for] roadways comprising a drag presenting bottom leveling edge, means for-supporting the drag whereby the bottom I leveling edge thereofwill lie a determinate spaced dis; tance above the'roadway as the drag'is moved along the roadwaythrough the material de-f posited thereon to be spread and' 'leveled, means whereby said material will exert draft for holding down the drag and maintaining the leveling edge-thereof in its det ern iinate position as aforesaid, and ,meaiisfwhereby;

force maybe exerted-for 'drawiiigthej drag along, the roadway through said material and. permitting of and determinate"positioning .rosidways "cdmpnsmg bq m gle z ling edge, me s for d ans i x it adway-thrp ghsal um r- 1-1 E ge 1115 "drag avnwemwmw deposited, and means jwh ,rhy" "far be extension forward of the drag over the surface of the roadway with sliding bearing thereon and to draw through and beneath material deposited on the roadway in front of the drag whereby the Weight of said deposited material will hold down the drag as the sled is drawn through, the deposited material, means for supporting the drag on said sled whereby the bottom leveling edge of the drag 10 will lie a determinate spaced distance above the surface of the roadway, and means whereby force may be exerted to draw said sled and drag through the deposited material and atthe same time hold down onto the surface of the roadway the forward end of said sled. v

AUGUST E. SCHUTTE. 

